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Paper of the Month - December 2025
selected by the BMAS Scientific Board

Bone marrow adipogenic lineage precursors are the major regulator of bone resorption in adult mice

 Jiawei Lu1,2, Qi He1, Huan Wang1, Lutian Yao1, Michael Duffy1, Hanli Guo1, Corben Braun1, Yilu Zhou1, Qiushi Liang1, Yuewei Lin1, Shovik Bandyopadhyay3,4, Kai Tan3,4, Yongwen Choi5, X Sherry Liu1, Ling Qin1.
  • 1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
  • 2Department of Spine Surgery, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
  • 3Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
  • 4Center for Childhood Cancer Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
  • 5Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
  • 6Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.

Correspondence:Ling Qin: qinling@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Bone Research 2025 Mar 19;13(1):39.

PMID: 40102423 | PMCID: PMC11920254 | DOI: 10.1038/s41413-025-00405-4

Key Findings

Lu et al. conducted analysis of the role of marrow adipogenic lineage progenitors (MALPs) in facilitating bone resorption. The authors demonstrate that Marrow Adipogenic Lineage Progenitors (MALPs), and not osteocytes, are the dominant source of the pro-osteoclastic protein RANKL in adult mouse bone marrow. Depleting RANKL in MALPs led to a rapid increase in trabecular bone mass. Finally, the authors also showed that MALP-derived RANKL drives ovariectomy-induced bone loss. Altogether, this establishes a crucial role for the precursor cells of bone marrow adipose tissue in facilitating bone remodeling.

Figure: Trabecular bone volume is increased and bone resorption is decreased 6-weeks after RANKL deletion from MALPs.